Govt paying price for tough reform:Dutton

The Abbott government may be lagging in opinion polls but frontbencher Peter Dutton believes that's the price of "tough but necessary" reform.

Last week's Newspoll had Labor leading the coalition 53 per cent to 47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, but Mr Dutton said before the next election people would see the difficult decisions taken in the past 12 to 18 months were in the best interests of the nation.

"As that realisation comes to fruition I think people do see a very strong position the government puts," he told Sky News on Sunday.